Your Lunchtime News Feed

Your Lunchtime News Feed

The number of female billionaires increases sevenfold in the last two decades

More women are becoming billionaires than ever before, and female Asian entrepreneurs are paving the way, according to a new report into global wealth.The number of female Asian billionaires increased from just three in 2005 to 25 in 2014, the UBS/PwC Billionaire report revealed, with just over half of them first-generation entrepreneurs. Read more.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has its world premiere in LA

The latest addition in the Star Wars franchise, The Force Awakens, has had its world premiere in Los Angeles on Monday night. Actors Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill, who will reprise their roles as Leia (now General) Organa, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker all walked the red carpet. The event was staged across three cinemas. Read more.

UK astronaut Tim Peake set for space milestone

43-year-old Peake will be Britain's first astronaut on the International Space Station and the first British representative of the European Space Agency. Alongside American Tim Kopra and Russian Yuri Malenchenko, the ex-helicopter pilot has launched on a Russian Soyuz rocket at Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan today. Read more.

Bill Cosby to counter-sue seven women who have brought rape allegations against him

The former star of The Cosby Show says the women lied when they accused him of sexually assaulting them and they have damaged the 78-year-old's legacy. The seven women are but a handful of the 50 who have come out and claimed that Cosby sexually assaulted them after plying them with drugs and alcohol. Read more.

Syria: Kerry seeks peace talks to narrow division with Russia

The US Secretary of State John Kerry is travelling to Moscow to meet his counterpart Sergei Lavrov to discuss how the might bridge gaps over possible Syria peace talks. He will also meet with Vladimir Putin. Read more.